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Companion animals

13.08.2018 3 Min Read
Companion animals

Companion animals have become an integral part of human life, and we do not think about their usefulness. ACT Kazakhstan tried to identify if many people kept dogs, cats, and other companion animals and what their benefit is for their holders. The survey showed that more than half of the respondents (56%) kept companion animals. Out of those, who kept companion animals, 64% preferred cats, 63% – dogs, 10% – birds. About 5% of the respondents kept exotic animals: turtles, lizards, snakes, snails, spiders, hedgehogs, guinea pigs.

The way the current holders obtained their pets:

– Bought – 47%

– Received as a present – 28%

– Picked up in the street – 25%

– Took from their friends/relatives/familiars – 10%

– Took from an animal shelter – 4%

Every fifth resident of Almaty who did not have a companion animal expressed a desire to have one within one year. During the survey, we asked about the influence of companion animals on people and the living conditions of companion animals.

We received the following answers to the proposed statements:

– 84% of the respondents believed that companion animals improved the emotional state of their holders

– 82% of the respondents believed that the presence of a companion animal at home helped fostering children (developing such features as kindness, responsibility, mercy)

– 71% of the respondents believed that companion animals had a positive impact on the health of their holders

– 68% noted that living in a flat did not allow them to hold companion animals since a private house would be a better place for them

– every second respondent (49%) considered it expensive to hold a pet

– 2/3 of the respondents agreed that there were many homeless animals on the streets of Almaty (43% – very many, 32% – rather many).

Most of the respondents (58%) did not care for homeless animals (34% responded they had a neutral attitude and did not participate in taking care for homeless animals, 24% were only feeling empathy). Among the Almaty residents who took care of homeless animals: 43% gave them food, 2% made charitable contributions for the rescue, treatment, and socialization of homeless animals, 2% helped to spread information (e.g., in social media) about taking care of homeless animals, 1% were volunteers taking care of homeless animals. The survey covered the issue of the need to control the population of homeless animals in the city – 1% of the respondents thought that their population needed no control. 


The respondents who voted for control over the population of homeless animals proposed the following measures:

– To place them in shelters/nurseries – 49%

– To castrate them – 26%

– To catch them and release outside the city – 5%

– To euthanize them – 5%

— To conduct educational work among people – 2%


The survey was conducted in March 2018 among the population of the city of Almaty on a sample representing the city population. The survey was conducted in the form of a personal interview. The sample size was 404 respondents. The sampling error does not exceed 4.9%, CI = 95%. The use of survey materials is permitted with the obligatory mention of the author of the survey.

Featured Insights
20.07.2018

ACT Kazakhstan was investigating whether residents of Almaty have phobias/fears. Let us remind you that phobia is a current fear of imaginary events. The survey showed that 43% of the respondents had different phobias (fears); accordingly, 57% had no phobias. Women were found to be more tend to phobias (64%); the age group most tending to phobias was 25-35 years (34%).

The survey revealed a long list of phobias that haunted Almaty residents. Such a variety of phobias was mainly due to a small percentage of people suffering from this or that phobia. Such small shares of specific phobias characterize the very concept of phobia – this is something that terrifies a particular person while the others remain indifferent to it. In total, there about 1,000 known different phobias in the world.  The study of phobias of Almaty residents showed that most of the people suffered from the fear of heights (acrophobia), which is a form of the fear of space. 12% experienced a fear of snakes, rodents, reptiles. 11% of the adult population of Almaty had a fear of spiders and insects (arachnophobia).

Below is the list of other phobias identified by the survey:

  • fear of flying (aerophobia) — 5%
  • fear of darkness — 5%
  • fear of uncertainty about the future — 5%
  • needle/injection phobia — 4%
  • fear of dogs — 4%
  • fear to lose a job — 4%
  • fear of poverty — 4%
  • aquaphobia — 4%
  • fear for your children— 3%
  • fear to lose the close ones — 3%
  • feer of people / social communications (sociophobe) — 3%
  • feer of possible war — 3%
  • feer of earthquakes — 3%
  • claustrophobia — 2%
  • feer of loneliness (monophobia) — 2%
  • fear of infection / severe fear of germs — 1%
  • transport-related phobias — 1%
  • feer of dentists — 1%
  • feer of fire (pyrophobia) — 1%




The survey was conducted in January 2018 among the population of the city of Almaty on a sample representing the city population. The survey was conducted in the form of a personal interview. The sample size was 396 respondents. The sampling error does not exceed 4.9%, CI = 95%. The use of survey materials is permitted with the obligatory mention of the author of the survey.

30.03.2018

In March 2018, ACT Kazakhstan conducted a survey aimed to determine the place of religion in the life of Kazakhstanis. A bit more than half of the respondents (51%) answered the religion did not play an important part in their life. It is worth noting that most of those respondents were aged 18 to 27; that is, they represented the younger generation.

The survey revealed the following attitudes of the interviewed Almaty residents towards religiosity:

  • 35% consider themselves as believers
  • 25% believe in God and try to observe the rituals of their religion;
  • 19% admit the existence of higher powers;
  • 10% are indifferent to religion;
  • 5% are dedicated atheists.


ACT Kazakhstan has also clarified the attitude of the respondents to the manifestation of religious identity:

  • 74% welcome the observance of Oryza, 3% have a rather negative or negative attitude to the observance of religious fasting;
  • 19% are positive about wearing hijab/niqab by women, 53% have a negative or rather negative attitude to such a manifestation of religiosity;
  • 17% of the respondents are positive about wearing a beard by men, 47% are rather negative or negative;
  • Shortening men's clothing (trousers) causes a positive reaction in 7% of respondents, while 56% react rather negatively or negatively on such a manifestation of religiosity.

The survey was conducted in March 2018 among the population of the city of Almaty on a sample representing the city population. The survey was conducted in the form of a personal interview. The sample size was 404 respondents. The sampling error does not exceed 4.9%, CI = 95%.The use of survey materials is permitted with the obligatory mention of the author of the survey.